Football’s participation rates are booming. Just look at the Australian Sports Commission’s latest AusPlay data report.
AusPlay commenced in October 2015 and is the largest and most comprehensive survey of its kind ever conducted in Australia. Each year, 20,000 Australian residents aged 15 or over complete the survey.
With an exciting Isuzu UTE A-League season in full swing and the Liberty A-League set to get underway, the 2021-22 findings show football is by far the most popular organised team sport in almost every demographic category in Australia.
Football (an estimated 1,143,000) ranks first for activities through sports club or association with more than one million, well ahead of golf (732,000) and the a considerable distance clear of the next-best organised sport – Australian football (697,000).
Down to age-specific and for males aged 15 or older, football is the best-ranked team organised sport with an estimated 946,000 participants.
For males aged 15-34 (597,000) and 35-54 (299,000), football again is the most popular organised team sport.
It is the same story for male Australians aged 18+ with disability – 56,000.
In major (731,000) and rural cities (151,000) for Aussie males 15+, football is the leading organised team sport.
When it comes to the 0-14 category among boys in major (360,000) and rural cities (162,000) – football is the standout.
Considering Australians aged 18 or older who speak a language other than English at home, football is the most popular organised team activity among men (247,000) and women (59,000).
For children aged 0-14 living in a house where a language other than English is spoken, there are an estimated 113,000 participants – which leads the way.
Getting down to the youth and boys 0-14 – football is by far the most popular organised team sport (531,000), while the game (189,000) is only behind netball when it comes to team activities.
In the boys 5-8 (197,000) , 9-11 (148,000) and 12-14 (136,000) categories, football stands alone.
Girls aged 5-8, football ranks first among team sports – 80,000.
When it comes to females between 15-34, football (214,000) is only second to netball in organised team sports and it is the same for women 15 or older in major cities (218,000).
